Eat Whole Foods And Eat Primarily Plants

Vegan, paleo, pegan, Mediterranean, Whole 30, high-fat, low-fat, full blown keto, pescatarian, vegetarian, anti-cuatro-pedal-tarian… I made that last one up during the time I wasn’t eating meat from four legged animals. With all the opinions and all the evidence – often times completely contradictory – what the heck are we supposed to be eating?

With the exception of the low-fat approach (more to come on this topic in my article “Fat Is Your Friend”), all the nutritional philosophies listed above are healthy when implemented correctly. They are healthy because of the one “correct” thing they all have in common – eat whole foods, and eat primarily plants. 

Why plants? Think about which foods most commonly get the illustrious title of “superfood”… which, by the way, is a term I do not use. There is nothing “super” about them. They are food. It is the disease promoting junk that plagues our Western diet which is not worthy of the term “food.”

Kale, hempseed, and avocado are just a few of the plants that have each had their superfood spotlight. Plants are Mother Nature’s medicine, so it is no surprise that the nutritional wellness trends, healthiest populations in the world, and the positive body of scientific evidence are grounded in plant-based diets. In fact, as I will discuss in future articles, one of the major differences found within nutritional studies is whether or not the overall diet was plant-based.

It is known that a plant-based diet is the key to health, and that the food we eat is one of the most influential health decisions we can make. The research regarding the positive health effects of plants like fruits and vegetables is overwhelming! The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an intake of five to eight portions (400–600 g) daily of fruits and vegetables to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, poor cognitive performance, and other diet-related diseases, as well as for the prevention of micronutrient deficiencies. In addition to the other habits discussed on my site, such as getting enough sleep, moving regularly, and managing stress, The National Council on Aging recommends a plant based diet to prevent the most common chronic diseases that increase with age.

Given our standard American diet, it is no surprise that The American Society for Nutrition reports that millions of lives are lost each year from heart disease and stroke due to insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables. The study estimated that roughly 1 in 7 cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough fruit, and 1 in 12 to not eating enough vegetables.

Like food sources from the animal kingdom, plants naturally contain all the macronutrients needed to survive, which are fat, protein, and carbohydrates. These are the nutrients that provide calories to be used as human fuel, which is chemical energy called ATP. But plants are medicine because, compared to animal products, they contain more micronutrients – critical compounds such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous properties. 

These micronutrients do more than keep us alive – they keep us well by providing the necessary ingredients to maintain homeostasis or physiological balance. Micronutrients are needed to regulate everything from inflammation to neurohormonal chemistry to the holobiome. In addition, micronutrient rich foods provide less calories while at the same time delivering the necessary ingredients to efficiently use that fuel. This is why you don’t have to count calories or portions to lose weight on a plant-based diet. 

Thanks to one of the largest, randomized controlled clinical trials looking at the effects of the plant-based Mediterranean diet, called the PREDIMED study, we know that eating primarily plants is effective in reducing the risk of chronic disease, premature aging, and overall mortality. The PREDIMED trial described a host of reasons why this way of eating is so positively impactful on health and longevity, including reductions in blood sugar, weight, and you guessed it – inflammation, all thanks to the micronutrients found in plants.

The Mediterranean diet has such a profound, positive, and scientifically proven effect on aging and cognitive function by reversing the cell damage caused by stress and inflammation. As I wrote in “Be Blue To Be Well”, telomeres are the end caps on DNA that shorten with age. Their length is positively correlated with premature aging, death, and the development of chronic diseases, and can be used to predict these outcomes. The women in the famous Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) who followed a Mediterranean diet were found to have longer telomeres, due to the antioxidants found in plants that can help combat cell stress and preserve telomere length. 

Another NHS study found women who ate a plant based diet were almost 50% more likely to age healthily, defined as living to 70 years or more, and having no chronic diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, lung disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer) or major declines in mental health, cognition, and physical function. 

You can’t expect that a diet high in animal protein, sugar, and processed or refined foods (and also low in nutrient-rich plants) will fuel your body efficiently.  And all those empty calories stimulate inflammation – which leads to weight gain, chronic disease and early aging.

Has it begun to register just how powerful plants really are? So much more to come on this topic, but I want to end by describing exactly what a whole food is, and equally important, what it is not. It is certainly not anything refined or processed, stripped of its complete nutritional profile. Cereal, meal bars or shakes, and 100% fruit juice are just a few examples of foods that have been nutritionally stripped and have little, if any, nutritional value. 

Whether it is plant or animal, eating whole foods sourced in a non-toxic way is critical to ensure our healthiest selves. A whole food is essentially a food in its purest form, not processed, refined, or stripped down of all nutrients for shelf-stability in a visually appealing packaged form. Whole foods that are properly sourced contain unadulterated forms of macro and micronutrients. Many of these nutrients are lost through processing and refining, and the end result is often a disease-promoting product filled with empty calories. Although there are certainly healthy staples to be stocked in every pantry, the majority of the diet should be fresh, whole foods, and primarily plants. To quote Dr. Mark Hyman, “If it can go bad on the shelf, it’s good for you. If it can’t, it’s not.”

Which plants or plant-based eating approaches are the best? What if you love meat and don’t want to give it up? Should you really be eating fat? And how the heck does one change to a plant-based diet that also tastes great?! Answers to these questions, easy recipes and more will be delivered in future articles on DrDWellnessAddict.com.

References

1. Liu, R.H. Health-promoting components of fruits and vegetables in the diet. Adv. Nutr. 2013, 4, 384s–392s. 
2. Phan, M.A.T. Et al. Interactions between phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables: Effects on bioactivities and bioavailability. Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 2018, 58, 1310–1329. 
3. Rodriguez-Casado, A. The Health Potential of Fruits and Vegetables Phytochemicals: Notable Examples Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. Published online: 16 Sep 2014.
4. https://nutrition.org/millions-of-cardiovascular-deaths-attributed-to-not-eating-enough-fruits-and-vegetables/
5. https://www.ncoa.org/blog/10-common-chronic-diseases-prevention-tips/
6. Fung TT, et al. Mediterranean diet and incidence of and mortality from coronary heart disease and stroke in women. Circulation. 2009 Mar 3;119(8):1093-100.
7. Lopez-Garcia E, et al. The Mediterranean-style dietary pattern and mortality among men and women with cardiovascular disease. AJCN. 2013 Oct 30;99(1):172-80.
8. Loughrey DG, et al. The impact of the Mediterranean diet on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Advances in Nutrition. 2017 Jul 6;8(4):571-86.
9. Aridi YS, et al. The association between the Mediterranean dietary pattern and cognitive health: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2017 Jun 28;9(7):674.
10. Bhushan A, et al. Adherence to Mediterranean diet and subjective cognitive function in men. European journal of epidemiology. 2017 Nov 17:1-2.
11. Crous-Bou M, et al. Mediterranean diet and telomere length in Nurses’ Health Study: population based cohort study. BMJ. 2014 Dec 2;349:g6674.
12. Samieri C, et al. The Association Between Dietary Patterns at Midlife and Health in Aging: An Observational Study. Annals of internal medicine. 2013 Nov 5;159(9):584-91.